Collision of Empires

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Publisher's Summary

The fighting that raged in the East during the First World War was every bit as fierce as that on the Western Front, but the titanic clashes between three towering empires - Russia, Austro-Hungary, and Germany - remains a comparatively unknown facet of the Great War.

With the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the war in 2014, Collision of Empires is a timely expose of the bitter fighting on this forgotten front - a clash that would ultimately change the face of Europe forever. Drawing on firsthand accounts and detailed archival research, this is a dramatic retelling of the tumultuous events of the first year of the war, with the battles of Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes in East Prussia followed by the Russo-Austrian clashes in Galicia and the failed German advance toward Warsaw.

Let’s hope they release the next books

This book and the next 3 books on this series are the best I’ve found on the subject of the Great War on the east front , a subject I find fascinating. . It touches on the Franco Prussian and the Austrian Prussian wars . It explains the summer of 1914 in depth in Berlin , St. Petersburg and Vienna . Finally , the majority of the book is the actual fighting that took place in Prussia , Galicia and Serbia in 1914 . A number of high profile personalities are also looked at in detail . The narration is a bit dry but satisfactory. The book itself is A+ fantastic .

Excellent Review of a Little Knows Theater of War

I am retired miltary after 32 years service and hold two bachelor's and one Master's Degree. I also am a student of military history but,actually knew very little about the day to day fighting on the Eastern Front of World War One. I learned a great deal from this book. There was so much information provided that I will need to listen to the book a second time (this time with an atlas open) in order to digest it all.
I had assumed that it was the conglomerate makeup of the Austro-Hungarian forces that caused their debacle. The "Collision of Empires" clarifies the many other reasons that the Austro-Hungarian Forces did so badly in WW-I...

Interesting Topic, Difficult to Finish

I've always loved World War I history, and an examination of the lesser known fronts always manages to pique my interest, but i had the most difficult time finishing this audiobook. Despite a daily total of 2.5 hours commuting and a 3 hour plane ride, it took me two months to finish this one, and I'm not sure why. The story is good and well-written, putting emphasis on the personalities responsible for the debacle on the Eastern Front. The narrator, while a bit dry in that academic fashion, is nonetheless engaging and manages to keep everything interesting. I think the big problem is that it's attempting to fill a research gap and sacrificing pacing in order to capture every detail, which is great for historians, not so much for listeners.

Boring reader, too much to cover without maps

Extremely detailed, succinct Eastern Front intro

Prit Buttar is an Eastern Front expert in regards to both world wars, and no doubt in general. His knowledge is such that it would be very possible for the reader to not comprehend anything he is trying to convey. It could be extremely over the reader's head, if he wasn't such a good writer. But he's able to translate and make the movements along the WWI eastern front discernible to the reader. And this is just the entry book! Roger Clark makes a most reliable narrator in every book. I can't wait for the German Ascendant, and the rest of the series.

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2 out of 5 stars

Performance

4 out of 5 stars

Story

5 out of 5 stars

Amazon Customer

09-19-19

Difficult to follow

Difficult to follow the narrative without maps. Well researched Probably better to read the book.

1 person found this helpful

Overall

5 out of 5 stars

Performance

5 out of 5 stars

Story

5 out of 5 stars

Mr. Daniel R. Kane

10-27-18

At last a proper campaign history

The English language histories of World War 1 have always been dominated by the Western Front in France and Flanders to the exclusion of the huge war in the east. Prit Buttar's series goes far to redress this balance. I never thought I would ever see this series in audio. But here it is and it is just superb. The detail is just glorious so that individual actions can be followed in detail. If you want a coffee table summary of this vast conflict, this series is NOT for you. If you want to know how the various participants plans worked out in practice and how their armed forces performed, this is the book for you.

The narration by Roger Clarke is particularly good for such a long book, and his pronunciation of the original place names adds a flavour of the old world that was lost in these regions.

Whilst in some places the editing could have been a little tighter, it does not really detract from the setting of the stage, the detailed character sketches and the descriptions of the first five months of fighting.

Very highly recommended to anyone with a serious interest in the Eastern and Serbian fronts and why we are still living the the results today.

Overall

1 out of 5 stars

Performance

1 out of 5 stars

Story

1 out of 5 stars

phphoto

02-27-18

Collision of Empire s

A real struggle to finish, in fact I didn't finish. It was far too dry and seemed to focus on division numbers and it all felt like it didn't go together. Disappointed.

1 person found this helpful

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4 out of 5 stars

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5 out of 5 stars

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5 out of 5 stars

bishr

07-11-19

Needs Maps!

I urge Audible to provide maps with these kind of books. I spent lots of time looking for suitable maps in the internet and tried my best to connect between them and the tactical/operational narrative in this book.
This book must come with MAPS... Please!